-
Deschooling Society
-
"Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question."
Located in
References
-
Instead of Education
-
Instead of Education is Holt's most direct and radical challenge to the educational status quo and a clarion call to parents to save their children from schools of all kinds. In this breakthrough work Holt lays out the foundation for un-schooling as the vital path to self-directed learning and a creative life.
Located in
References
-
Happiest days?
-
New initiatives for developing happiness and well-being in pupils, presenter Richard Millwood highlights the work of four schools in ‘School Matters’. St. Andrew's Primary, North Pickenham has transformed behaviour and performance by adopting Nurture Group principles , using role-play and hands-on learning. At King Harold School, Waltham Abbey, Year 10 students are undergoing 'brain mapping', to discover individual strengths and weaknesses. At Alsop High School, Liverpool, the use of humour is explored, in comedian Steph Davies’ confidence-building workshops.
Located in
References
-
Learned Optimism
-
In this groundbreaking national bestseller, Martin E.P. Seligman shows you how to chart a new approach to living with "flexible optimism." Drawing from more than twenty years of clinical research, Dr. Seligman outlines easy-to-follow techniques that have helped thousands of people rise above pessimism and the depression that accompanies negative thoughts and build a life of rewards and lasting happiness.
Located in
References
-
What is the modelling curriculum?
-
This paper describes the benefits which might accrue from modelling as an activity for learners. Some approaches taken to teach modelling are discussed and criticised. The learners' purpose modelling is suggested to be critical in engaging them in this formal and theoretic field and it is suggested that presentation and communication of ideas in the context of project work may be appropriate. An analysis of parts of the modelling process is presented to highlight some of the hidden steps which appropriate modelling software may usefully expose. Finally some prototype software developed by the Integrated Modelling Project to explore these problems is described.
Located in
References
-
A Design Approach to Research in Technology Enhanced Mathematics Education
-
This thesis explores the prospect of a design science of technology enhanced mathematics education (TEME), on three levels: epistemological, methodological and pedagogical. Its primary domain is the identification of scientific tools for design research in TEME. The outputs of this enquiry are evaluated by a demonstrator study in the domain of secondary school mathematics. A review of existing literature establishes a need for a design perspective in TEME research, but at the same time suggests a need for a consensual epistemic infrastructure for the field: a shared set of rules, processes and representations which bound and support its scientific discourse. Three constructs are proposed towards such an infrastructure: design narratives, design patterns, and the cycles of design research in which they are embedded. The first two are representations of domain design knowledge; the latter is a description of a design-centred scientific process. The three constructs identified at the epistemological level are operationalised as a methodological framework by projecting them into a specific research setting of the demonstrator study. Appropriate methods and procedures are identified for collecting data, organising and interpreting them as design narratives, and extracting design patterns from these narratives. The methodological framework is applied in the demonstrator domain to the question of learning about number sequences. A review of the educational research on number sequences identifies challenges in this area related to the tension between learners’ intuitive concept of sequences and the dominant curricular form. The former appears to be recursive in nature and narrative in form, whereas the latter is a function of index expressed in algebraic notation. The chosen design approach combines construction, collaboration and communication. It highlights the need for representations and activities which lead learners from intuitive concepts to formal mathematical structures. Three interleaved themes connect the primary and the demonstrator domains: narrative, systematisation and representation. Narrative emerges as a key element in the process of deriving knowledge from experience. Systemisation concerns the structured organisation of knowledge. The tension between the two calls for representations which support a trajectory from the intuitive to the structural. The main outcome of this study is a methodological framework for design science of TEME which combines design narratives and design patterns into structured cycles of enquiry. This framework is supported both theoretically and empirically. Inter alia, it is used to derive a contribution towards a pedagogical pattern language of construction, communication and collaboration in TEME.
Located in
References
-
Current Research in Learning Design
-
A 'learning design' is defined as the description of the teaching-learning process that takes place in a unit of learning (eg, a course, a lesson or any other designed learning event). The key principle in learning design is that it represents the learning activities and the support activities that are performed by different persons (learners, teachers) in the context of a unit of learning. The IMS Learning Design specification aims to represent the learning design of units of learning in a semantic, formal and machine interpretable way. Since its release in 2003 various parties have been active to develop tools, to experiment with Learning Design in practice, or to do research on the further advancement of the specification. The aim of this special issue is to provide an overview of current work in the area. This papers introduces Learning Design, analyses the different papers and provides an overview of current research in Learning Design. The major research issues are at the moment: a) the use of ontologies and semantic web principles & tools related to Learning Design; b) the use of learning design patterns; c) the development of learrning design authoring and content management systems, and d) the development of learning design players, including the issues how to use the integrated set of learning design tools in a variety of settings.
Located in
References
-
The use of a visual learning design representation to document and communicate teaching ideas
-
A learning design is a representation of teaching and learning practice documented in some notational form so that it can serve as a model or template adaptable by a teacher to suit his/her context. This paper presents a work-in-progress of a research study that is examining how a learning design representation developed in an Australian federally funded project known as the Learning Designs project (www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au) is being used. Eleven participants were interviewed to investigate how they are using the learning design representation and how such a representation could be improved. Preliminary findings indicate that the visual characteristic of this learning design representation is one of its main strengths. The visual element enables a learning design to be summarised so it can serve as a “talking point” during the design process, it can be used as a communication device to share pedagogical strategies, and it can also serve as a personal reflection tool. In-depth analysis of the interviews is currently being conducted. The results will inform the refinement of the learning design representation and make a contribution towards the development of a notation system as there is currently no consistent notation system for learning designs in education.
Located in
References
-
The Microelectronics Education Programme Strategy
-
The Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was announced by the Government in March 1980, and Richard Fothergill took up his appointment as Director of the Programme in November. His first main task was to draw up this statement of the Programme's future priorities and methods of operation, in consultation with the Education Departments and the Programme's expert Advisory Committee; the local authority and teachers' associations also commented on an earlier draft. The paper was to assist researchers and developers to formulate proposals for funding in line with the Programme's aims; the priorities and criteria set out in the paper were intended to serve as a strategy and not a precise blueprint, intended to help devise a co-ordinated programme of work to secure the best possible value for the available money (£8M over the period 1981-1984). It was also written to encourage others, who had been closely involved with microelectronics in education, to find out about the work which was being done in their areas and perhaps become involved in it themselves.
Located in
References
-
Report on good practice of innovative applications of learning theories in TEL v1
-
The HoTEL Support Action aims to contribute to more effective, holistic and faster innovation cycles in European Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), focusing on the design, testing and validation of a new innovation working method. This document sets out the learning theories which influence innovators, identifies the new learning practices supported by TEL in higher education, professional learning and informal learning, and offers a multiple stakeholder analysis for TEL innovations in learning & education. Educational innovators should benefit from this document as a guide to effective analysis, decision-making and implementation.
Located in
References
